Teen gets 3 years in jail after giving teacher exploding pen

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (CBS Charlotte/AP) - A North Carolina teenager who made an exploding pen and placed it on his teacher's desk will spend at least three years in prison.

Eighteen-year-old Jesse Bauguess pleaded guilty Wednesday to malicious use of explosives inflicting injury and other charges.

Bauguess was arrested in 2010 after the pen burned the hand and sent fragments into the stomach and arm of a 15-year-old fellow student at their Charlotte alternative school. Prosecutor Madelaine Colbert says the pen was intended for a female teacher.

According to the prosecutor, Bauguesse said the pen was supposed to pop and scare her but not hurt anyone. The prosecutor also added that Bauguesse made the device a pen because he knew the pen would pass school security.

Three firefighters later suffered burns as they tested a substance in his Charlotte home. Authorities shut down the neighborhood around his home for two days while they searched it.

Bauguess' mother is charged in connection with explosives in her home. Her case is pending. Bauguess' younger brother was also arrested but his charges aren't public because he is a juvenile.

"He's got a lot of time hanging over his head that will likely encourage him to do well on probation and stay out of trouble," Colbert told The Charlotte Observer.